Your eBriefcase

Welcome to the eBriefcase Management Center. This function allows you to compile selected pages to your personalized eBriefcase, where you may add to, delete or drag to reorder items. Once assembled, you can create a PDF of your eBriefcase. Click on the eBriefcase link at the top right of the page to open your collection of pages.

Attorney Facts

We're appellate attorneys for trial attorneys

Led by William W. “Billy” Wilkins, former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Nexsen Pruet’s Appellate Advocacy Group provides clients a high level of experience, skill and knowledge. We are tenacious advocates whose foremost concern is for the well being of the individuals and institutions we serve.

Our attorneys recognize that the key to a successful appeal is the ability to present a logical, thoroughly researched legal argument in a compelling manner. Critical to that is an understanding that appellate is very different from trial practice. It is about the application of the law to the facts, not making emotional arguments. We have the ability to state cases and frame legal issues in the most convincing manner possible.

Persuasive practitioners

We also know that having a case that is strong on technical merits often isn’t enough. The law and the facts have to make sense. We have deep experience in the essential tools of presenting our clients’ positions persuasively:

Brief writing: Often considered the centerpiece of the appeal, written briefs must be well researched, straightforward, clear, and concise. Our attorneys prepare written briefs that are direct and forceful, raising the right arguments and stressing the right facts in the right way.

Oral arguments: We focus on the legal arguments rather than just the facts in oral presentations, and understand how to respond to judges’ questions effectively, without losing sight of our clients’ goals and positions.

Deep knowledge of a challenging process

In addition to having the technical and legal skills required to make the strongest possible case, Nexsen Pruet’s appellate lawyers also offer clients another advantage: A thorough understanding of the appellate process.

This is critical because a wide range of challenges and hurdles – many of them hidden – can surface during an appeal. We know where they are and how to overcome them, helping clients navigate the complex rules that are at the core of the process.

Beyond appeals

Our appellate lawyers often work with Nexsen Pruet's litigation counsel during the pre-trial, trial, and post-trial stages of a case. This level of collaboration has proved highly beneficial to clients when the litigators address discovery and other pretrial motions, jury instructions, and other issues vital to the protection and preservation of the record on appeal. We have also been frequently asked to monitor and/or consult on trials conducted by other firms. We represent clients before government agencies and state and federal courts.

Your eBriefcase

Welcome to the eBriefcase Management Center. This function allows you to compile selected pages to your personalized eBriefcase, where you may add to, delete or drag to reorder items. Once assembled, you can create a PDF of your eBriefcase. Click on the eBriefcase link at the top right of the page to open your collection of pages.

Contact us

Disclaimer

Do not send us any information that you or anyone else considers to be confidential or secret unless we have first agreed to be your lawyers in that matter. Any information you send us before we agree to be your lawyers cannot be protected from disclosure.

This website is for informational purposes only. A result achieved on behalf of one client does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients. Nexsen Pruet, LLC has designated James G. Long, IIIGeneral Counsel, to accept responsibility for this site. He may be contacted at 803.771.8900 or at jlong(AT)nexsenpruet(DOT)com.

Your eBriefcase

Welcome to the eBriefcase Management Center. This function allows you to compile selected pages to your personalized eBriefcase, where you may add to, delete or drag to reorder items. Once assembled, you can create a PDF of your eBriefcase. Click on the eBriefcase link at the top right of the page to open your collection of pages.